“A Feeling That 'Rakugo Is Fun' Began to Sprout within Me” — An Interview with Anna Nagase, the Voice of Akane Ōsaki in the TV Anime "Akane-banashi"

In the TV anime "Akane-banashi," which has been airing since April, voice actress Anna Nagase plays the protagonist, Akane Ōsaki. While Nagase is a young female voice actress whose acting skills are garnering attention, in this work, she also takes on the challenge of rakugo performance through her role as Akane. Her positive attitude during rakugo training, which reportedly began more than a year before the broadcast, has been shared with the public in making-of videos on YouTube.

How did she actually approach capturing the character profile of Akane and taking on the challenge of rakugo? We asked her about it in this interview.

—Akane doesn't start from a state of being completely unable to perform rakugo; rather, the story carefully depicts her steady growth from a point where she is already somewhat skilled. On top of the fact that it is properly explained to the viewers that she improved because she learned a specific lesson and applied it to her rakugo, the presentation is also excellent and feels very convincing. Including the development in the first episode where Shinta gets expelled, I thought it was extremely well done.

Nagase: That's right. As for Akane, the reason why she aims to become a rakugoka and thinks, "I'll make Isshō Arakawa acknowledge me," all stems from her father (Shinta Arakawa). Akane loved her father's rakugo, and I believe the core of it is that her father was rejected (by Isshō).

It's not that she is performing rakugo with a completely positive mindset in every aspect; there are parts of her performing rakugo driven by a desire for revenge, or a vigilant, watchful attitude toward Master Isshō.

—There is no doubt that Shinta's existence is the driving force behind Akane's rakugo, isn't there?

Nagase: For example, unlike Hikaru (Kōragi), she currently doesn't have the desire to test her own abilities as a performer. She isn't thinking about doing multiple things in parallel; she only has eyes for rakugo.

At first, she doesn't really see what's around her, but as Akane meets her senior disciples and rivals, I think she will accumulate more and more discoveries, like "Oh, there was this way of looking at it," or "There is this way of doing it."

—In playing the role of Akane and also performing rakugo, what kind of approach did you take?

Nagase: When it comes to rakugo, rather than trying to do it perfectly, I focused on just trying it honestly to see how the director and Master Kikuhiko (Hayashiya, the rakugo supervisor) and others would perceive it. I wanted to have thorough discussions from there, and we recorded it by having me first present what I had honestly practiced.